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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:12 pm
by DPR
Can anyone tell me if I'm being ripped off by my contractor.
I have got approx 100m sq of drive. The guy doing the job has broke, lifted and removed old council style flags as ther is a very good base. He has filled in the gaps due to 5 dollop laying. I have organised for him materials skips etc for him and it took 2 weeks to prep driveway and I have helped when I can. He is now laying riven limestone flags and it has taken him 2 full days to lay 1 project pack of 14.4m sq so far and working on that it will take him 14 days to lay 100m sq and then pointing on top.
How long should it really take for him to do the job?
Is he ripping me off?
cos I'm paying him by the day.
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:21 pm
by lutonlagerlout
how much are you paying him a day?
regards tony
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:32 am
by DPR
We're paying £120 a day and I'm even supplying some tools such as cement mixer, jack hammer and diamond cutter. I'm supplying and organising all skips and materials. But regardless of what i'm paying him, he said at beginning 4 weeks and it looks more like 6 weeks.
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:06 pm
by lutonlagerlout
well its not a rip off per se,
personally i aim to lay about 30 m2 a day ,just laying mind someone else knocking up and bringing the flags,so i suppose on my own i might do about 15-20 m.
all he is guilty of is underestimating the time for the job.
as long as he isn't sitting around all day i cant see the problem,if you sack him, i cannot see anyone else laying for under £15 a metre so it would cost more to finish the job
no,your not being riped off is my call
hope this helps
tony
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:06 am
by Alex
Hi,
I was in a similar situation, and the reply I got from Tony is :
"A good contractor will lay 50m² in 2 days and charge somewhere between 500-1200 quid, depending on how good their work is, where you live, and how badly they want the job."
(See topic on this forum: Laying slabs on existing bed.)
What is worked out in reality and that is with me helping the chap is that it took us nearly 5 days to lay 50 m²!!! That is two people one laying and the other mixing and shifting the flags. I know that there were three manhole covers, one drainage and a lot of other jobs involved.
One thing that surprised me was that the chap worked from 8:30 to 12 and from 13:00 to 4:30 that is about seven hours max minus all the breaks and planning time so in actual fact detracting all the extra trips to get extra materials etc it was perhaps 20 solid labout hours just for laying 50 m². I suppose by the end of the day you don't want to rush these things since it will be with you for a while...
Alex